UK: Brown becomes PM, names cabinet - timeline
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Timeline
- April 2007. UK citizens charged in connection with 2005 London underground and bus attacks; others convicted for planning other terrorist attacks.
- March 2007. Historic accord on Northern Ireland splits power among the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA).
- November 2006. Labour's 2006-07 platform features law and order, immigration, and pensions. The “cash for peerages” scandal ploughs forward.
- September 2006. A number of ministers resign from the cabinet over Blair’s alignment with US President George W. Bush in refusing to call for a ceasefire in Lebanon. Blair promises to resign as Prime Minister in less than one year.
- July 2006. Lord Levy is arrested in the “cash for peerages” scandal.
- April 2006. The government faces crisis over failing to deport foreign prisoners before discharging them to society; the health secretary has her speech cut short because of heckling by nurses expressing rancour over National Health Service (NHS) cuts.
- October 2005. Northern Ireland unionists complain of unfair treatment compared with the IRA.
- September 2005. A new antiterrorism bill is approved in the wake of the London underground and bus bombings.
- September 2005. The IRA decommissions weapons; Blair calls the move an “important step” for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
- July 2005. London buses and underground trains are devastated in co-ordinated terrorist attacks: 52 people are killed.
- June 2005. Blair refuses to discuss reductions of the UK’s EU rebate, unless the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is renegotiated.
- June 2005. The voters of the Netherlands overwhelmingly reject the EU constitution.
- May 2005. The Labour Party retains a parliamentary majority in its third consecutive electoral win, but its majority is reduced.
- May 2005. The French electorate rejects the EU constitution.
- January 2005. UK Chancellor Gordon Brown tours Africa to promote new aid package to the continent.
- January 2005. There is a setback to the peace process when the Northern Ireland Chief Constable says that the IRA was behind a major bank robbery.
- November 2004. Agreement is reached in Northern Ireland to break an impasse over decommissioning of IRA weapons.
- October 2004. Prime Minister Blair comes under pressure from opposition parties and backbench Labour MPs to apologise for taking the UK to war in Iraq.
- October 2004. Blair announces he will not run for a 4th term.
- March 2003. The House of Commons approves war in Iraq; Robin Cook resigns as Leader of the House in protest against UK participation in the action.
- February 2003. In backbench revolt, 122 Labour MPs vote for an anti-Iraq war resolution; anti-war demonstrations in London are described as the largest political protests in UK political history.
- April 2002. Brown presents a budget with higher taxes to pay for health spending increases; a 43 per cent increase over five years is projected.
- December 2001. A new anti-terrorism law is approved and put to use immediately for security purposes; relations with the UK's Muslim community are strained.
- June 2001. The Labour Party wins a general election.
- November 2000. The government compromises on fuel price hikes following protests by lorry drivers.
- March 2000. Chancellor Brown loosens up spending in the 2000-01 budget, reportedly in preparation for a general election.
- January 2000. A deputy minister resigns over the Blair government’s alleged inadequate funding of the NHS.
- December 1999. The UK authorities criticise the French government for imposing a moratorium on beef imports from the UK in response to an outbreak of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) on UK farms.
- September 1998. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) calls for government action to stem losses of manufacturing jobs.
- October 1998. Brown, acting as chairman of the G-7 (Group of Seven leading industrialised countries), unveils a plan to revive the global economy.
- May 1998. In referenda, the electorates of Ireland and Northern Ireland ratify the Good Friday Agreement.
- December 1997. Labour backbenchers revolt against a government plan to cut welfare spending.
- October 1997. Brown opposes European Monetary Union, demanding that five economic conditions be met before allowing a referendum on the topic.
- July 1997. The UK returns Hong Kong to China.
- May 1997. The Labour Party wins a landslide 179-seat majority in a general election under Blair’s leadership, ending 18 years of Conservative rule. Brown becomes chancellor of the exchequer.
- July 1995. The Conservative Party reaffirms John Major as prime minister.
- July 1993. Parliament approves the EU Maastricht Treaty; approval had been contingent on the UK opting out of the European “Social Charter”.
- January 1991. Coalition forces, including UK forces, invade Iraq to remove the Iraqi military from Kuwait.
- November 1990. Major replaces Margaret Thatcher as prime minister after Deputy Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Howe resigns over the UK’s European policy.
- July 1987. The Conservative Party wins another general election.
- September 1984. The Conservative government imposes new rules on trade unions, including requiring members to “contract in” to the political levy rather than collecting a levy automatically from all members who had not specifically contracted out.
- July 1983. The Conservatives form a new government after winning the general election,
- June 1983. The Labour Party manifesto contains many elements from the party’s far left wing, which reportedly contributes to Labour's loss of the general election; Tony Blair is elected for the first time Labour MP for Sedgefield.
- July 1979. The Conservatives, led by Margaret Thatcher, defeat the incumbent Labour Party in a general election.
- October 1974. The Labour Party wins a general election. Harold Wilson resumes duties as Prime Minister.
- February 1974. Following a wave of strikes, the Conservative leader Edward Heath calls a general election, which is won by the Labour Party.
- January 1973. The UK--with Ireland and Denmark--joins the European Community (EC).
- February 1972. Twenty-six unarmed civil rights protestors in Derry (Londonderry), Ireland, are shot in incident that came to be known as “Bloody Sunday”. The IRA launches attacks in Belfast.
- June 1970. The Conservatives win a general election with 46.5 per cent of the popular vote.
- July 1968. The UK begins conversion to decimal-based monetary system.
- January 1963. French President Charles de Gaulle opposes UK entry to the EC.
- March 1959. UK Prime Minister Harold Macmillan visits the Soviet Union to meet with Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Nikita Krushchev for international peace talks.
- January 1955. Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of the UK during World War II, resigns as prime minister.
- July 1948. The NHS is inaugurated--a major victory for Secretary of State Aneurin Bevan.
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